Effect of Soviet Immigration on Israel

Israel will face a severe economic and political crisis within the next three years as a result of its open door immigration policy accepting Soviet Jews into the country. More than one million Soviets are expected to immigrate to Israel during this time. The number represents a population increase of about 25 percent in Israel. The consequences of this increased population during this timeframe include:

1) massive housing shortages and rise in homeless among native Israelis

3) internal discrimination and violence toward Soviet Jews by unemployed native Israelis

4) outbreak of armed violence by Palestinian settlers on the West Bank against Soviets in these areas and against Israelis in general

5) increased financial dependence on outside governments and institutions such as the U.S. government and World Bank for humanitarian assistance

6) turnover of the present hard-line Likud government to more moderate-run government

The result may positively affect West Bank negotiations with Palestinian settlers and ultimately increase donations from governments and organizations currently disaffected by Israel's current treatment of the West Bank.

Prior to January 1990, migration of Soviet Jews to Israel and other world countries was extremely limited and the process highly bureaucratic. For example, of the 19,000 Jews who left the Soviet Union in 1988, a little mor

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s $4.2 billion overall resettlement budget, most of which from the Jewish communities in Canada and the United States. Already the Shamir government has received $400 million in additional assistance specifically to house Soviet Jews and Shamir has hinted that this may be higher in the future. Employment Israel currently has a 9.3 percent unemployment rate without Soviet immigration increasing job pressures. It is, as some critics have charged, ill-prepared to find work for all the immigrants. Many economists point out that the construction of new homes, and the need to create instant social services, will generate jobs and stimulate the economy. According to a recent Bank of israel study, for every 100,000 arrivals, some 28,000 jobs will result, one third of them for engineers and one-tenth for doctors, dentists and paramedics. In the sciences alone, some 60,000 Soviets are expected to arrive within the next three years. Israeli universities can make room for perhaps 12 percent of them. Even the country's high technology firms cannot absorb the rest. Experts estimate that large-scale foreign investment will be required to create new industries to absorb the skills of the newcomers. And for some types of Soviet pro
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